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Grading all of the Trades

For the weeks leading up to the trade deadline all anyone would talk about is where Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Rajon Rondo were going. Well none of them got moved. There were a bunch of other moves, so lets take a look at them:

This was the most surprising move of the day for me. In the offseason Nene signed a 4 year, 53 million dollar contract. He also is having a bad season and has been injured constantly, so maybe that made Denver think twice about their franchise center. In other words Denver decided that their 29 year old center who is injury prone should be sold while his value is still high instead of waiting until the injuries kill Amar’es, I mean Nene’s value and the contract is worthless.

McGee makes dumb mistakes. A lot of dumb mistakes. Maybe coach Karl will help with that. I’m guessing Denver really really hopes that’s the case. McGee is also only 24 years old, scores as much as Nene and rebounds and blocks much better. He’s going to get paid this summer, but that contract won’t be as high as Nene’s. Which is good because Lawson and Faried are going to need bigger contracts soon.

Turiaf and McGee also both fit in the $7 trade exception from the Raymond Felton trade (not as upset about losing him after seeing what a fat mess he’s become in Portland), which means they now have a $13 trade exception.

We’ll see if McGee works well with the rest of the team. It’s a big risk because Denver is a playoff team right now, but it gives them a lot of cap flexibility and potentially a more lethal scorer in the post.

Washington: D+

I know Washington didn’t want to move forward with McGee or Young, but it looks like they pretty much gave Young away in this deal. They are also banking on a very high paid and injury prone center. When you have a young team that is very far away from even making the playoffs I don’t know why you roll the dice on an older center. By the time Wall and company are ready to make some noise, Nene is going to be as productive as Dampier or worse. I don’t bet but if I did I would go to the best sports betting sites and put money on Washington really regretting this move in a year or two.

L.A. Clippers: A

The Clippers got a scorer in Young for free. He uses up the trade exception from teh Eric Gordon deal at the beginning of the season. He’s not great on D, but to get a decent scorer at the 2 where they are really thin for Cook who doesn’t play and a crappy 2nd round pick is a steal.

The Blazers decided to go nuclear and blow up their team. While the draft pick (top 3 protected) will be OK, it won’t be in the top 5. Okur and Williams aren’t going to do much. I guess if their plan is to suck then I have to change this grade to a B, but as a basketball move I don’t think they’ll get someone as good as Wallace for the 9.5M he is making this season and next. The extra cap space will give them money to sign Batum long term. Maybe I haven’t seen Batum enough but I feel like building around him and Aldridge isn’t the greatest of strategies.

New Jersey: B-

The Nets got rid of two players that weren’t contributing and their 1st round draft pick. The draft pick might come back to haunt them, but it might not and Wallace is a nice player to have.

Another down side is Wallace has a player option. So Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace can both opt out after this season making the Nets pretty unappealing when they arrive in Brooklyn. If they both stay Williams, Brooks, Wallace, Humpries and Lopez is a pretty decent starting lineup.

How many top 5 busts can one team collect? Thabeet wouldn’t even be the 9th man on the Bobcats and Flynn couldn’t get playing time in Minnesota when he was the only point guard. Camby was out after this season anyway, so this is just another move to make their team have a worse record. The only plus side for all these moves by Portland is that they can give Craig Smith and Luke Babbitt some extended run and see what they can do.

Houston: A-

The Rockets desparately needed a center and they got one by trading two completely useless players and a useless draft pick. They are clinging to a playoff spot right now and this move should make their playoff run a little easier.

TJ Ford retired so that’s irrelevant, but Jackson is more productive than Jefferson and their first-round pick is going to be a decent one. I don’t really see any upside for the Warriors. Jeffersons days of productivity in Jersey was a long time ago, have they seen any footage of him in San Antonio?

So now their lineup for the next few years is Stephen Curry, Richard Jeffersons corpse, David Lee, Andris Biedrins and Andrew Bogut. 3 perpetually injured guys, a washed up guy and poor poor David Lee. Can we have him back please? Oh and Golden State used their amnesty already.

San Antonio: B+

San Antonio has made one bad move in….ever? And now they get rid of it. Jefferson has one year after this one at 13M and Jackson is expiring. They now have a nice bench player and can start Kawhi Leonard. Another smart move by one of the best front offices in the league.

Jason Kapono is an expiring contract, but Luke Walton had a trade kicker which means he’s now owed 6.1M next year. Eyenga will make 1.1M…..So Cleveland just paid 5 million for a mid-20s first round draft pick. Wasn’t Dan Gilbert making a huge stink about unfair trades to big market teams? This trade sounds lopsided and I didn’t even get to the part about trading a decent point guard on top of that. Terrible

L.A. Lakers: A-

Like San Antonio, some teams seem to have all the luck (or maybe just competant ownership). Luke Walton hasn’t been produtive since Shaq was with the Lakers. Now they get to replace him with a starting point guard. They also save a ton of money because they were over the cap, I beleive they saved about 10M with this move. Will Sessions style of play work with the Lakers? We’ll find out, but it has to be better than what Fisher was providing. If it doesn’t work out, Sessions has an opt-out clause as well.

The 76’ers acquire Sam Young Grizzlies acquire the rights to Ricky Sanchez.

Memphis: D

Sam Young wasn’t playing much and the Grizzlies were over the cap, but if you saw the playoffs last year you would realize that the Grizzlies could have gotten more. I mean is Ricky Sanchez even a real person? I feel like the 76ers just wrote a random name on a piece of paper, maybe the cameraman or janitors name and gave it to the Grizzlies.

Philadelphia: B+

The 76ers get Sam Young for free. It’s always worth seeing if a player can work out if it costs absolutely nothing. Philly used their trade exeption from the Marreese Speights deal, so it really does cost nothing. If it works, great they are deeper, if it doesn’t he’s a restricted free agent and I guarantee they get more than a fake name on a piece of paper for him. Nice move.

Pacers acquire Leandro Barbosa Raptors acquire a second-round pick.

Indiana: A-

The Pacers weakest position was the SG postion (why are there only like 4 good shooting guards in the league?). They were under the cap (as a Knicks fan I have absolutely no idea what that’s like and didn’t even know that was possible), so instead of paying all their players additional money they get a free player for depth. He’s also an expiring contract.

Toronto: C

Gary Forbes and Jerryd Bayless will see more playing time. I guess that’s good. Nothing much here other than a salary dump, as the pick is going to be in the 50’s.

So the Lakers traded a 35 year old point guard and got a young big man to replace Bynum. Hill won’t play unless (until) Bynum gets injured but that’s not a bad haul for an old and not very productive point guard. Lets just hope this move doesn’t make Kobe cranky.

Houston: C+

Hill was expendable since they ended up getting Camby, but they are buying out Fisher, so they wanted Hill out that bad? Anyway, the pick is going to be in the 20s so it won’t have much effect so this trade doesn’t have much significance for Houston.